Photo by colinedwards99

There are always two choices, two paths to take. One is easy. And its only reward is that it’s easy. - Unknown

Just about every piece of advice tries to make your workday less stressful.  To-do lists help us rank our tasks in order of importance.  We’re offered the following steps to deal with those dreaded tasks:

1. Don’t do it
2. Delay it
3. Deflect it
4. Delegate it
5. Do it imperfectly
6. Do it

Why does “Do it” wind up at the end of the list?  Why such an aversion to a challenge?  Do these self-help gurus doubt our capacity to rise to the occasion?  I think we’re passing on great opportunities for personal growth.

When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I’ve never tried before. - Mae West

Because I get bored easily, I’m always experimenting.  I guess you’d call it Lifehacking to some degree.  Perhaps this makes me a little weird, because I can’t just leave well enough alone.  For instance, I gave up drinking coffee this summer.  People ask me: Why?  Do you have a medical condition?  When I tell them that I just wanted to see if I could do it, they look at me like I have three heads.  People just don’t tackle hard things anymore.  We’re becoming a nation of wusses.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Rather than run from change, I embrace it.  I’ve changed jobs several times just because I felt that I needed a new challenge.  So have many other famous people.  It’s a little scary to leave a place where you have a routine for a new job where you don’t know anyone.  But I think the first step to real personal growth is to break out of your comfort zone.

So I challenge you today: Skip all of the easy items from your to-do list.  Pick a challenging one, something that you’ll really have to apply yourself in order to finish.  The Big Kahuna.  Then get busy.  It may take you longer than the other “gimmies” that you’d normally tackle first, but you’ll get more satisfaction when you’ve completed it.  I know, because I did this a few days ago.  It was a killer assignment, with many complications, and I had to involve other people in order to move forward.  But after 3 days, I completed this magnum opus, and gained some respect from my peers for my work ethic.

So it’s time to get uncomfortable.  Let me know how you made out.

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